Buffett now has a personal fortune of about $62bn - ahead of Gates' cash pile of $58bn.

Gates was pushed into third place on the preposterously prosperous list because Mexican telecoms mogul Carlos Slim Helú has also jumped ahead of the Microsoft co-founder, with total wealth estimated at $60bn.

Despite his relegation to third place, Gates, who steps down as Redmond head honcho in June, still pulled in an eye-popping $2bn in the past 12 months alone.

Meanwhile, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is the youngest billionaire on the list.

He's already put an estimated $1.5bn into his piggy bank, even though the 23-year-old is yet to poke a profit out of his social networking website.®